What happens when a transaction fails on-chain

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Web3 Fundamentals

Not all blockchain transactions succeed. Some fail due to insufficient gas, reverted smart contract logic, or unmet execution conditions. When a transaction fails on-chain, state changes are rolled back, but certain costs—such as gas fees—may still be incurred. Understanding how and why transactions fail helps users avoid unnecessary losses, debug contract interactions, and interpret on-chain activity more accurately. This quest explains what happens behind the scenes when a transaction fails and how different blockchains handle failure.

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Web3 Fundamentals

What happens when a transaction fails on-chain

Rewards

10+

5 Gems

25 XP

Steps

Read and Learn

Take the Quiz

0/4

Transaction Lifecycle on a Blockchain

A blockchain transaction goes through several stages before it is finalized. First, a user signs a transaction with their private key and broadcasts it to the network. Validators or miners then check whether the transaction is valid, including verifying the signature, account balance, and nonce. Valid transactions are placed into a block and executed sequentially.

Execution is where success or failure is determined. If the transaction executes successfully, its state changes are recorded permanently on-chain. If it fails during execution, the blockchain still records that the transaction occurred, but the resulting state changes are handled differently depending on the failure.

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What happens when a transaction fails on-chain

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What happens to blockchain state when a transaction fails?

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